


bread

by mysteriousnight



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Fluff, Food and Love, M/M, Which we all know is the same thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29620584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysteriousnight/pseuds/mysteriousnight
Summary: Hawkeye and Erin bake bread. That's really it. Just Hawkeye, BJ, and Erin being a family, and food is there, of course.
Relationships: B. J. Hunnicutt/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce
Comments: 15
Kudos: 36





	bread

**Author's Note:**

> i saw[ this painting](https://phoebewahl.tumblr.com/post/100599463961/bread-created-for-the-2015-taproot-calendar) and i guess i needed to write this before i could move on with my life.  
> i'm not sure how good this is and there's no real plot, but i hope you like it nonetheless (i also never baked bread before, so sorry for any inaccuracies on that front)

The morning is so peaceful and quiet, BJ almost forgets Erin is staying with them for the weekend. Most weekends, Peg has her, mostly for convenience on both of their parts, but this weekend she’s visiting friends in Oregon so Erin ended up with them, which is time with his daughter that BJ greedily accepted. Having her with them on the weekends is great, except that BJ tries to make a point to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday.

Hawkeye has come to begrudgingly accept this, even (mostly) stopping his attempts to make them breakfast every weekend and leaving BJ unbothered to sleep to his heart's content. But BJ’s desire to stay in bed, undisturbed for as long as he can (which usually means until eleven thirty when Hawkeye finally breaks and starts to drag BJ out of bed), is wholly unfulfilled when Erin stays with them. She, for some godforsaken reason BJ can’t begin to understand, is a morning person, waking cheerily up at seven in the morning every single day without fail. He thought she might outgrow this habit, but Erin is five now and BJ has been very much mistaken.

On Saturday, BJ was woken by Erin climbing into the bed and shaking him awake, accompanied by Hawkeye’s laughter and encouragement a few feet away. But Sunday, BJ opens his eyes without a trace of either Hawkeye or Erin disturbing him. The birds are even singing outside the window, making this day a further caricature of the perfect Sunday morning. 

BJ doesn’t trust it, whatever this is. He sits up and carefully looks at the time. Ten forty two. That’s at least forty two minutes later than Erin has ever let him sleep in for, and BJ doesn’t believe that they both are simply choosing to leave him alone for the sake of being nice. He knows both of them better than that; Erin fueling Hawkeye’s passion for mischief, and Hawkeye egging on every one of Erin’s ideas. It’s a disastrous combination that BJ loves, at least when it’s not directed at him, which this morning seems like it must be. Silence is always suspicious in the Pierce-Hunnicutt household.

That silence doesn’t last long, however, when a large metal crash comes from the kitchen, followed by Hawkeye’s swearing, which is then further followed by him telling Erin not to repeat any of that. BJ laughs to himself before rising to his feet to investigate what exactly is happening in the kitchen before something worse than a pan falling to the floor can occur.

The sight that meets him in the kitchen is not what he expected. There’s no real mess, no liquids spilled all over the counter, or food laying on the table in all forms. There’s just some used utensils littering the counter space: measuring cups and spoons, bowls, a wooden spoon, a recipe book; the only thing constituting a mess is some flour stains. All this is consolidating onto the two figures standing at the counter, each kneading a ball of dough. Erin is standing on a step stool, whose entire step seems to be covered in flour, wearing an apron BJ remembered Hawkeye getting her for her last birthday. There’s a copious amount of flour in her hair, making her the clear culprit of most of the piles of flour scattered around the kitchen.

Hawkeye, surprisingly, is in much better shape. There’s not a spot of flour on the sweater he still insists on wearing in California, and the only notable thing about the state of his apron is that it’s BJ’s and not, in fact, Hawkeye’s. Both are focused on the dough in front of them, the only thing breaking Hawkeye’s attention is an occasional glance over to see how Erin is handling the dough. 

The whole scene is so peaceful, BJ almost doesn’t want to interrupt, but he looks over to the stove and sees a kettle of water steaming there, and the thought of a warm cup of tea to fully wake him up is too good to pass up. So he makes his presence known with a knock on the doorframe. “Is the bakery open for business?”

Hawkeye meets him with a smile, turning completely away from the counter. Erin, on the other hand, only gives BJ a glance before deciding her bread is more important than her father. 

“We’re not open right now. Come back in an hour,” Hawkeye smiles wider, his words not meaning anything as he meets BJ halfway across the kitchen, wrapping his arms around his neck, careful not to get any residual flour on BJ. 

“That’s a real shame. I guess I’ll leave,” BJ starts to turn around, but Hawkeye stops him with a kiss, planting one on his lips before pulling back to smile. BJ just laughs and leans in for another kiss, which Hawkeye graciously gives him.

“You two are gross,” Erin delivers the insult with her nose scrunched up, a clear display of just how disgusted she feels. 

BJ just laughs and steps out of Hawkeye’s arms, saving his daughter from any more mushy affection for the moment. Hawkeye doesn’t let her get off that easy, a cunning smile coming to his face as he takes purposeful steps over to Erin. “Oh, we’re gross? I’ll show you gross affection.”

Erin, seeing where she had messed up, hops off her step stool and tries to get out of Hawkeye’s reach before her fate can be delivered. Her movements are too slow, and Hawkeye is on a mission, so he grabs her easily and pulls her to him, crouching in one motion and planting a kiss on her forehead, another on her cheek. Erin tries to twist away, a defining “no” being exclaimed, but when Hawkeye doesn’t let her go, so she resorts to finding help from other sources.

“Daddy, get him off of me!” Erin tries to plead with BJ, but he only puts his hands up in innocence.

“I’m sorry, sweetie , but my hands are tied on this matter. You brought this on yourself.” 

As any further argument Erin could make dissolves into shrieking laughter as Hawkeye begins to tickle her, BJ calmly makes his way over to the stove, stopping only to grab a mug from the cabinet before pouring himself the cup of tea he has been wanting since he came in. By the time he takes his first sip, Erin is laying on the floor, laughing soundlessly from her position, with Hawkeye moving calmly back to the counter and the momentarily forgotten bread dough sitting there. 

“Come on, Erin, you have to finish your dough. We need let these rise if you want fresh bread for lunch,” Hawkeye lightly nudges one of Erin’s feet as he gestures for BJ to hand him the two glass bowls sitting on the table. 

At the mention of bread, Erin sits up and climbs back up the step stool, deciding the bread is more important than her dramatics. She takes an inspective look at her dough, comparing it to the larger ball of dough Hawkeye had been working on, and smiles. “It’s ready.” She claims confidently and reaches for the smaller of the glass bowls in Hawkeye’s hands. 

The bowl moves out of her reach before she can grab hold of it, Hawkeye taking it away as he shakes his head. “No, no, no. I think I need a kiss if you want this bowl.”

The exasperated look Erin shoots BJ reminds him so much of Peg he almost chokes on his drink. “I can’t save you, kiddo.” BJ lies, knowing he could very well reason with Hawkeye just to let Erin have the bowl, hasn’t he tormented her enough this hour, but where’s the fun in that. It’s much more rewarding to see the winning smile on Hawkeye’s face and Erin’s feigned eye roll as she kisses his cheek before snatching the bowl out of his hands.

“Now, was that so bad?” Hawkeye teases as he places his own dough in the larger of the bowls. “I taught you how to make bread, a kiss is the least I deserve. Isn’t that right, Beej?”

“Oh, it’s only fair,” BJ agrees and presses his own kiss on Hawkeye’s cheek, eliciting a groan from Erin. 

“Mom never does this,” Erin grumbles as she makes her own way over to place her bowl in the warmed oven to rise.

“Well does Mom let you bake bread? I don’t think so,” Hawkeye shoots back, almost childishly. He slides his own bowl in beside Erin’s and shuts the oven door.

“Come on, Erin, you love us,” BJ smiles and ruffles Erin’s hair. She doesn’t duck away like she usually does, instead fixing them both an honest smile. She has hit her limit of joking for that morning and settles into sincerity instead, a trait she clearly picked up from Peg. She has always known when to stop joking and offer them both genuine affection.

“I do love you,” She says it to both of them, her small hands, still sticky with dough and flour, grabbing onto each of their hands. 

After a moment of the three of them locked in that statement of love, BJ shakes one of Erin’s hands, drawing her attention to the state of them. “Let’s get you cleaned up, sweetie. You’re a mess.”

Erin lets BJ lift her into his arms, tucking her head to rest against his neck as he holds her securely against him. Hawkeye smiles at the sight of them, heart seeping out of him, encompassing the entire room with the tenderness. BJ never wants to forget this moment, or this morning, something so peaceful about it all, the love written into the lining of each action, the simple preparation of food a love letter to all those around you. 

When BJ can look away from Hawkeye and his smile, he takes Erin out of the kitchen and to the bathroom to clean up. As he leaves the room, he can hear Hawkeye sigh, the sound so content and heavy, BJ knows the exact expression on his face: disbelief that this is his life now. BJ feels the same emotion well up in his stomach, the weight like a rock, so familiar and large, but he keeps it off his face, not wanting Erin to see it and think something might be wrong. Nothing is wrong this morning; absolutely nothing.

When lunch does roll around and the bread comes out of the oven, fresh and warm, the whole house smelling like love, the three of them sit at the kitchen table, each with a bowl of soup and a piece of bread. It’s hearty and warm and BJ marvels at the affection that fills him as the food does the same, the two going hand in hand, nourishing and fulfilling and loving. It’s perfect, and from the way Hawkeye smiles at him, and how Erin is devouring piece after piece of bread, BJ knows all three are in agreement on that front. 

The only thing BJ isn’t looking forward to is the mess of flour none of them have cleaned up yet, but even the oncoming argument of who’s truly responsible for the mess doesn’t seem that bad when BJ is this full of love and bread.


End file.
